Experts have proven that Breed Specific Legislation does not make communities safer for people or pets. It is costly, ineffective, and undermines the human-canine bond. Regulating breeds puts the focus on the dog, without addressing owner behavior and the owner’s responsibility to the animal and the community. In an environment of breed discrimination, the breed identification of a dog can have serious consequences with municipal authorities, animal shelters, landlords, and insurers, all of which will compromise the bond between a family and their dog. There is no evidence to support breed specific legislation.

Watch the Animal Farm Foundation BSL Presentation:

Breed Specific Legislation Research E-BookThis section is available to view and print as individual pdfs or can be downloaded to print and share as an E-Book. Please click on the images to download your copy.

BSL Talking Points E-BookA collection of well researched talking points and other resources to help you fight against breed specific legislation in your community.

Our Research Does Not Support Breed Specific LegislationStatement from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) & American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA)Why debate what the experts have already concluded? There is no scientifically valid evidence and no reasonable argument to support breed specific legislation.

Organizations That Do Not Endorse Breed Specific LegislationA list of organizations that do not endorse BSL. This list is not intended to be comprehensive.

Dog Breed Specific Legislation:The cost to people, pets and veterinarians, and the damage to the human-animal bond by Jane BerkeyIn an environment of breed discrimination, the breed identification of a dog can have serious consequences with municipal authorities, animal shelters, landlords, and insurers, all of which will compromise the bond between a family and their dog.

Why Breed Specific Legislation Does Not Reduce Dog BitesReport from NCRCAn insightful report of the analysis published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, which explains why BSL has consistently failed to reduce dog bites. The authors, Gary J . Patronek, VMD, PhD , and Amy Marder VMD, CAAB , of the Center for Shelter Dogs, Animal Rescue League of Boston; and Margaret Slater, DVM, PhD, of the ASPCA, have applied one of the most valuable and well - recognized tools of evidence-based medicine to this question.

A Comparison of Visual and DNA Identification of Breeds of Dogsby Victoria Voith PhD, DVM, DACVB"The discrepancy between breed identifications based on opinion and DNA analysis, as well as concerns about reliability of data collected based on media reports, draws into question the validity and enforcement of public and private policies pertaining to dog breeds."

Breed Specific or Looks Specificby Kristopher Irizarry, PhD Assistant Professor, Bioinformatics, Genetics, Genomics, Western University“I am beginning to believe that breed specific legislation targets nothing more than a small subset of morphological characteristics of dogs and does not address behavior at all."

Beyond Breedfrom Best Friends Animal Society“There’s so much behavioral variability within each breed, even more between breed mixes, that we cannot reliably predict a dog’s behavior or his suitability for a particular adopter based on breed.”

Aggression and Dogs:"No significant difference found between breeds."by Esther Schalke PhD, DVMIn July 2000, the government of Lower Saxony, Germany declared 14 breeds of dog were especially dangerous. This study tested 415 dogs of the targeted breeds on aggressive behavior and led to the repeal of BSL in Lower Saxony.

White House Opposes Breed-Specific Legislation

The Obama Administration issued the highest profile example yet of how the tide has turned against BSL at every level of government.

Case Study: DenverDenver's Breed-Specific Legislation: Brutal, Costly & Ineffective from NCRC"There is no evidence that cities or counties that have enacted breed bans or restrictions have had a greater reduction in the number of reported bites."

The Cruel Cost of BSLfrom StubbyDogForced to choose between a life in hiding or certain death, dog owners are given no humane options for their pets. Reprinted with permission by stubbydog.org.

The Role of Breed in Dog Bite and Risk Preventionfrom the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical AssociationAnalysis show that serious bites occur due to a range of factors in which a dog's size and temperament are known to be the risk factors. Breed is not a basis for dog bite prevention, but rather, dangerous and/or vicious animals should be labeled as such as a result of their actions or behavior and not because of their breed.

Fear v FactLearn the facts about popular fears surrounding Pit Bull Dogs in this printable handout.

Animal Professionals Disagree When Assigning Breed(s)

by Victoria Voith PhD, DVM, DACVB

In 2013, Dr. Voith and her colleagues surveyed more than 900 people in dog-related professions and services and showed that respondents frequently disagreed with each other when making visual breed identifications of the same dog, and that their opinions may or may not have correlated with DNA breed analysis.

Comparison of Visual and DNA Breed Identification of Dogs

by Victoria Voith PhD, DVM, DACVB, Western University of Health Sciences, and the Center for Shelter Dogs, Animal Rescue League of Boston

In 2013, Dr. Voith and her colleagues surveyed more than 900 people in dog-related professions and services and showed that respondents frequently disagreed with each other when making visual breed identifications of the same dog, and that their opinions may or may not have correlated with DNA breed analysis.

Pit Bull Identification Study

by the Maddie’s Shelter Medicine Program, College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Florida

The study, underwritten by Maddie’s Fund dealt with the limited problem of identifying "pit bull" dogs in four Florida animal shelters. Shelter staff and veterinarians regularly assign breed descriptors to the dogs in their care; but, the authors asked, what are the reliability and repeatability of these breed assignments? Find out by viewing the poster. For more info, please see this paper from the National Canine Research Council.